Thursday 19 February 2015

Collections

This week's Booking Through Thursday is:

Do you prefer to read collections that are all of works by the same author? Or collections by different writers? Consistency or variety?

 I don't really enjoy short stories in general because they don't give me that sense of in-depth immersion that helps me to really enjoy a book. The only exception I've found so far is Michael Marshall Smith's collection of (very) short stories, What You Make It, some of which are only a couple of pages long, but all are so cleverly written that the ideas stay with you for quite a while.

Usually, the only collections I'd consider reading are either poetry collections (and I prefer those to be by the same poet or at least arranged around a consistent theme) or collections of stories about the same character, for instance Sherlock Holmes stories or The Complete Father Brown Stories. That way you still get a sense of continuity and depth as the short stories build upon each other, rather than starting fresh at the beginning of each new one.

For me getting just a few minutes' worth of a story feels unsatisfying - if it was a good idea I wish it'd been taken further and turned into a full novel.

2 comments:

Raelyn Barclay said...

I hear ya' though I do find myself reading more novellas with my eReaders.

nikki @bookpunks said...

I have a similar problem with short fiction. At least I always think I do, until I get a totally mind blowing collection, and then I think, "so I'm just a super snob when it comes to short fiction?"

But it is an interesting idea, that maybe the short short SHORT stuff might work better for someone who doesn't like the lack of immersion in short fiction. It takes the extreme to the other side. Maybe that would free up my head it enjoy the shortness instead of always being annoyed by it...